O’Faolain, Sean, << oh FAY luhn or oh FAL uhn, shawn >> (1900-1991), was an internationally famous Irish short-story writer and novelist. O’Faolain’s stories generally deal with narrow-minded Irish society and the Irish nationalist struggle against Britain in the early 1900’s. Many of his characters lead frustrated lives and are victims of their environment. In addition to his short stories and four novels, O’Faolain wrote biographies of Irish political leaders and The Irish (1947), a study of the Irish people. His literary criticism was published in The Short Story (1948) and The Vanishing Hero (1956). His Collected Stories was published in 1980. O’Faolain wrote an autobiography, Vive-moi! (1964).
O’Faolain was born on Feb. 22, 1900, in Cork. His real name was John Francis Whelan. He changed it to Sean O’Faolain when he was a teenager. In about 1918, he became involved in the Irish nationalist movement, and in the early 1920’s, he was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a group that used violence to seek Ireland’s freedom from British rule. O’Faolain was educated at the National University of Ireland and at Harvard University, in the United States. He taught in the United Kingdom and the United States from 1926 to 1933. The popularity of his first story collection, Midsummer Night Madness and Other Stories (1932) and the novel A Nest of Simple Folk (1933) enabled him to devote himself to writing full-time. O’Faolain died on April 20, 1991. Julia O’Faolain, his daughter, became a successful novelist and historian.
